Dal Fry Recipe : How to Make Restaurant Style Dal Fry at Home

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This recipe of restaurant style Dry Fry uses Tuvar or Toor dal as the main ingredient. The Tuvar dal is also known as Arhar. The Dal fry is usually prepared with pigeon pea lentils but you can use the mixed lentils as well. To make this recipe, you would need everyday spices and veggies as well. This Dal Fry is simple yet very healthy. The high proportion of lentils makes it nutritious and rich in proteins.

In this Dal Fry recipe, the split pigeon peas are boiled and cooked with onion-tomato gravy. They are then tempered with whole spices and some common condiments. These ingredients are sautéed in ghee. To give the Dal, special Punjabi touch, you can add Garam masala powder. This cooked Dal is seasoned with a variety of spices. It is easy to cook retaining the great authentic Punjabi flavours.

The blend of various spices makes the Dal Fry extremely flavourful and aromatic. It has a subtle taste, fantastic aroma and fabulous taste.  Once you take the first bite, you would want more. This delicious Dal would be a treat for your taste buds. The approach for this recipe is to pressure cook lentils and then mix in the Indian curry. This gives the Dal Fry a rich texture, strong aroma and a spicy taste.

Remarks:

• If dal fry is too thick, you can add some water and adjust the spices.
• Do not forget to simmer for few seconds after adding water and salt.
• For the strong spice powders, use only 1 pinch.
• The addition of lemon juice is optional. It adds the tangy and tarty flavours to your dish.
• You may use the unsalted butter as a substitute for oil or ghee.
• The packet of spice powder is available in store. But you can also make Garam masala powder at home.
• Serve the Dal when it’s hot. Otherwise, it would become very thick when it cools.
• If you are using an electrical pressure cooker, then use 2 cups of water for a ¼ cup of Dal. It would take 5 minutes for Dal to cook and 10 minutes to release pressure.
• If you do not have a pressure cooker, you can soak lentils overnight.
• You can cook the Dal in an open pot till it is soft and tender.

Garnish:

• Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves over the dal and serve.
• You can drizzle ¼ tsp. ghee over the dal when serving.
• You may even add ¼ tsp. of butter over the cooked Dal Fry.
• The Dal Fry can be topped with the fried red chillies.

Serving Idea:

• This spicy Dal Fry goes best with steamed Jeera rice.
• It goes well with any type of rice dish.
• You can even try it with any type of parathas.
• Eating Dal with burgen bun is also a nice and unique combination.
• Makes a perfect accompaniment for plain roti or jowar roti.
• Serve it plain with the fried or roasted Papad.
• Pair it with the glass of salted Lassi and the crunchy Kachumber.

Quick Tip:

• You can also add ½ tsp. Dry Mango Powder instead of the lemon juice.
• If you are using unsalted butter, then always fresh and homemade butter.
• Add ¼ tsp. of oil while pressure cooking Dal to avoid releasing of liquid.
• There will be a slight difference in the taste of Dal depending on the type and quality of your pan.
• Instead of mashing, you can also put the Dal in Blender.

How to Cook Dal without Pressure Cooker?

To cook without a pressure cooker, you would have to soak the dal for more than 2 hours or overnight. Then drain the excess water from the soaked Dal and discard it. Keep this strained Dal aside.

Now a take pot and add enough water to it. You would need 4 cups water for 1 cup of Dal. Boil the water and add a pinch of Turmeric powder. When the water reaches the boiling point, then add the soaked and drained Dal in it. Keep the pot open and cook the Dal. Do not cover the lid of the pot. Remove the froth on the surface of a water with a spoon. Simmer the lentils and wait till it is cooked.

When it becomes tender and soft, it means it is cooked.  It would take time for Tuvar Dal to cook when compared with other dals. The time of cooking the Dal also depends on the quality of the Tuvar Dal. It would take nearly 50 to 60 minutes to cook the lentils in the pot.

How to cook the blended lentils?

If you want to cook the blended lentils, the firstly gather all the blended lentils in the pan. Now add hot water to this pan. Simmer everything on a low to medium flame. You need to stir frequently the lentils in the pan or in a pot. Cooking in the pot take more time, so use the pan. Also, if you do not have the pan, then you use Moong Dal for the Dal Fry Recipe in the pot.

How to prepare Dhaba Style Dal Fry Recipe?

To make the Dhaba Style Dal Fry, you would need five types of dal: Chana Dal (Split Bengal Gram), Tuvar Dal (Pigeon Pea Lentils), Urad Dal (Split Black Gram), Moong Dal (Split Green Gram) and Masoor Dal (Pink Lentils). The rest of the ingredients like spice powders, whole spices, and the veggies remain same.

The process of cooking the Dal and preparing the Dal Fry is also similar. The basic idea is you have to add ½ cup of mixed lentils with various spices. The Dhungar method (The charcoal technique) is generally used for the smoky flavour and fragrance.

How to get the restaurant style charcoal smoke flavour to Dal Tadka?

You would have to follow the Dhungar method if you want to get the restaurant style Dal with the Charcoal flavour. All the restaurants and the various street side Dhabha’s follow this method of preparing Dal tadka.

To get the charcoal flavour, follow the below steps:

• Take the small piece of charcoal.
• Burn it over the flame till its red hot.
• Place this burned charcoal in a steel bowl.
• Then, keep this bowl with piece of burnt charcoal in the cooked dal.
• Keep the consistency of Dal slightly thick. Otherwise, the bowl would immerse in it.
• Now, drizzle ½ tsp. of ghee or oil on the piece of charcoal.
• Cover the bowl and the put the lid on the pan of the dal.
• Wait for few minutes for the smoke to infuse in the Dal.
• Uncover the pan and remove the steel bowl from the Dal.

Note: If you want the heavy smoky flavour, then keep the bowl for the longer time. But usually, it not advised keeping the bowl for more than 1 or 2 minutes. After some time, remove the lid and take out the bowl.